Sligo Cafe

We LOVED Sligo Café.
Sadly, they closed.
Happily, they are re-​opening this week as a new establishment — Bibin! It’s Korean, which is quite different.
Can’t wait to try it on their first night — Tuesday!

They serve southern comfort food with a twist. For example, they fry their grits to add a crispy texture to their dish. The food is what you would ever want in comfort food. It’s worth every calorie.
I highly recommend their fried chicken. The breading is super crisp and has complex layers of flavor. They clearly utilize an array of herbs and spices to develop those flavors. The Mac and cheese is probably one of the best I have eaten in the area.
They also offer an array of signature cocktail drinks. It’s a great way to start and end your meal.

The hamburger I ordered sans-​bun was inspiring. What do I mean by this? I mean that as I sat at the bar peacefully dining, many people who were ordering drinks eye-​balled my burger and declared aloud that they were going to get one too! The burger was topped with an egg and bacon, and sat atop lettuce, and sat next to a generous supply of house-​made thick-​cut potato chips.
On another note, the owner tells me that she had an artist paint the walls. The paint was very effective, as evidenced by the fact that one of my relatives requested additional pictures of the walls so she could admire the paint.

Was very happy with the craft beer and how nice our server was.
Excellent place for watching dogs on the patio.
No turn on red, going north on Georgia ave from Sligo ave.

Everything we tried:
Brussel sprouts
Mad n cheese
Lamb chops
Steak chimchuri
House red
Was Perfect amazing and tasted even better !!!

I’ve gotta say I’m really disappointed! I just moved to the neighborhood and walk by this place all the time and have been wanting to come in. I’m currently sitting at the bar and my server has walked by me multiple times and I’ve been unable to get his attention for another drink. I had the beet salad and shrimp & grit cakes. It was ok. Nothing overwhelmingly amazing. Additionally, while the drink specials are all prices under $ 10 they come in the some of the smallest glasses I’ve ever seen. They seem to have some good events going on. Others in the bar and restaurant like the comps on price compared to other places of this type in the area. I am underwhelmed. Welp, I finally got my drink. Gonna pay this tab and be on my way. Won’t be rushing to come back, unfortunately.

We made it back to Sligo Café recently and although it was a slow night, the service and general flow of dinner has improved. I’ve bumped up my rating because I was thrilled with the food. The lamb chops with crispy eggplant was delicious and the fried chicken is so so yummy. Get the individual portion and share with another person. You get half a chicken and the sides of Mac n cheese and collard greens are big. Downtown Silver Spring has really stepped up the dining experience.

Good new spot near downtown silver spring. Went for dinner on a Thursday and it was pretty quiet. Overall food was good and the owner stopped by the table and chatted with us. Fried chicken had a crispy coating. The braised short rib was huge and so tender.

Dropped by on a Sunday. No menu service, wings or grilled chicken. It’s Sunday night, I want a full meal. Service was terrible, we waited for someone to come by and take a drink order, anything. So turned off kinda completely.
Thanks David for responding. We were there on 7÷26÷15, if that helps.

We tried this place out at the recommendation of a friend. I really wish I could tell you about the food, but we had the misfortune of showing up on a Sunday evening. For some reason, they only offer barbecued and smoked items (from a very short menu) on Sundays.
I ended up ordering a plate of smoked chicken wings. They were smoked, all right, and completely dried out. And flavorless. And generally unpleasant. And served on a tacky little plastic plate. The wings came with collard greens that were equally flavorless. Flavorless collard greens! That’s a new one on me. We probably ought to have sent them back, but we decided not to eat a full meal there anyway. I mean, seriously, a place that doesn’t brine its wings before smoking and doesn’t add salt and vinegar to its collard greens probably isn’t going to get much else right.
That said, the bartender was exceptionally nice and the drinks, including the beer list, were decent. We might consider giving this place another try, but it won’t be anytime soon. And we certainly will never go back on a Sunday.

Near ethioexpress and jackies. There’s a nearby parking garage and other street parking and a little parking area closer to jackies and the phở place nearby.
Uh… In my opinion the food is overpriced.
The cornbread is seriously 3 bites. I did hear that it was good but not good enough for the cost. This isn’t like some fancy restaurant.
The mashed potato did not come out hot. None of the food came out hot.
The French onion soup that so many people raved about did not live up to my expectations. It tasted like Mac and cheese noodles were tossed into the soup and the had cheese on top and cooked in the oven until the cheese browned and then served. The noodles soaked up so much of the soup and I didn’t like it. One of our friends enjoyed it but I personally thought it was meh– nice twist but not my thing.
I ordered the burger and the menu made it seem like it was really good. Nope. Basically tasted like an overpriced burger I could make at home. There was nothing special about the bun or the Sligo fries. The Sligo fries were okay but not something I thought was amazing.
The bbq chicken or something like that was also just whatever. The beans it came with were good but also lukewarm.
The Brussel sprouts were good but also very small serving. I don’t remember hearing that this place was a tapas restaurant.
Our waiter didn’t seem to know much. She was an average waiter.
The food was all lukewarm. My cousin said it the best, basically they had the food prepared and was waiting for it to be sold or something.
I would try it one more time to see if I just missed something but not a place I’d recommend to my friends

I Was really excited to try this place out, only to be disappointed!
The food wasn’t good and not to mention the presentation. I had grilled chicken which I hated! The chicken was undercooked and had very bad presentation. This place is way overpriced for their service. I do not recommend this place.

I met friend here for happy hour. She arrived a tad before me and the hostess had seated her at a table out front (happy hour pricing outside too). When she didn’t come back, we decided to venture in and sit at the bar. (They have stools now.) We spoke with the owner for a bit before ordering our draft beers, which were $ 2 off, and some crispy Brussels sprouts, sans the bacon (also $ 2 off).
I had the DuClaw Funk wheat ale which the bartender let us sample beforehand. I really liked it. My pal chose a different ale. The Brussels sprouts were delicious, though sorry chef, I can’t get Mike Isabella’s from Graffiato off my mind. I will say though, they are my favorite in Silver Spring (so far). The Signature Sligo Chips ($ 5) are also very good. They come with three dipping sauces, which weren’t explained except one was ketchup, obviously. I only used the spicy one. The portion could be bigger, like a basketful. After all, they’re only potatoes. I made myself a double portion with some with baby potatoes from the Latino market near my school and it cost me just $ 1.26.
I am sure I’ll be back this summer. The place has a great vibe, and the bartender was cool.

I was really excited to try this place because it is close to my house and I love supporting small businesses as I am a small business owner myself. Unfortunately, I was not impressed and will not be returning.
1. I can’t speak for all servers, but my server was not well trained. To start, we ordered our drinks. After taking our order, he returned to tell me they did not have pineapple juice (for a rum and pineapple). Instead of being prepared for the list of juices they did have, I had to ask, and then he had to go ask. Why didn’t you come back knowing this? Was I supposed to just keep guessing until we got a match? Not to mention, he just was not very attentive and was often seen walking through the dining room texting. Unprofessional much?
2. The menu had errors and could definitely be revised for accuracy. We ordered sliders for an appetizer and when the waiter asked which one, me and my friend were both very confused because there were no options. Then we informed there were pork and beef. Why isn’t this on the menu?
3. The food just wasn’t that great. I had the shrimp and grits. Hated it and the presentation. My friend ordered fried chicken and it tasted like it was cooked in the same oil that our brussel sprouts were cooked in (which was the best thing we had and I wish I just ordered like three of those). The chicken was also a little overcooked. We paid too much for the food to not be that great.
4. To top it off — Because of the open concept kitchen, you have a very clear view into the kitchen and seeing the chefs depending on where you are sitting or standing. To see chefs that prepare food texting and having their hands all over their cell phones before they prepare my food is just gross. And I’m not even a germ-​a-​phobe. But phones are very dirty because we touch them all day with our dirty hands. And I don’t want you touching yours and cooking my food. If you have so many chefs that they are standing around texting, maybe you are overstaffed. Duh?

Heard about this new spot in my neighborhood and we had to check it out. The bartender is awesome I highly recommend the «Silver Spring» if your a whiskey fan, it’s their take on an old fashioned. For dinner I had the short rib it was nothing short of amazing. My girlfriend had the steak and chips. The steak was perfectly cooked and the chimichurri was outstanding. The «chips» took me back to my childhood because my grandma used to make fries like that. Loved the ambiance and the staff. Will definitely visit this new neighborhood gem frequently.

Last week, the bestie and I tried out Sligo Café. It was small and cute but not very memorable.
I had the braised short ribs with mashed potatoes. The short ribs were nice, but could’ve used a punch of flavor. I substituted the Brussels sprouts for the (very garlicky) green beans and they almost charged me extra for them and they came out before the meal.
The fried oysters are a no from me (*Simon Cowell voice). There was just waaaay too much oyster. It was like eating an embryo (gross…I know). We love oysters and these were a big miss.
The inside out smores was pretty tasty, along with the beeting hearts salad.
They’re pretty stingy with the alcohol. My first drink was a Bulleit and ginger beer. I got a shot glass of Bulleit and a tumbler of ginger beer. Weird, right? My friend ordered one of the drink specials. I think it was called a Bugs Bunny or What’s up, Doc? It was basically a snowball in a glass and a shot glass of carrot juice+liquor on the side. Needless to say, we weren’t buzzing when we left.
The music was jamming though. I think one of the cooks/​kitchen staff did double duty as the DJ that night. His playlist was on point.

If 2.5 stars was an option, that would be the actual rating. I had high hopes for this new restaurant especially since it was pretty full when I walked in. It was brunch hours so I ordered their chicken and waffles. From the menu description I assumed i was getting a whole boneless chicken breast. What i got instead was basically equivalent to chicken nuggets. Overlooked chicken nuggets. Very salty and just underwhelming. The waffle was pretty good but i didn’t want just a good waffle. I wanted a good waffle and not popcorn chicken. Yes popcorn chicken is actually what was placed on top on the waffle. Then my friend ordered what we assumed would be grits with a food amount of gouda and what she received was bland grits. Cheesy grits should be «cheesy»
I will say the best thing about my visit was the mac & cheese and the cocktails.
This place has potential to fix issues so that diners can have a great experience but they should do it quickly.

I simply love this new spot. Great ambience, good food, friendly and personable staff. Only one comment — add some salt to the fried green tomatoes … it was bland. Great texture. Moscod mule didn’t come in the usual metal ware, but it was super delicious. If you love ginger, you’ll love that cocktail.

Hmm… wanted to try out the new place in Silver Spring. We sat down and ordered the buffalo chicken meatballs, the french onion soup, the braised short rib, and the burger. It took about 20 minutes for our appetizers and another 30 minutes for our entrees to come out, so basically we were waiting 50 minutes for our entrees since the time we ordered. I was getting irritated because everyone else who sat down after us was getting their orders before we got ours.
The buffalo chicken meatballs were, sad to say, terrible. They were topped with buffalo sauce and bleu cheese. The buffalo sauce was so spicy and it overpowered the taste of the very dry meatballs. I tried to eat about half of the dish, and then just left it, it was that bad. The french onion soup was ok, typical french onion soup, but instead of the bread on top, it was mac and cheese.
Our entrees finally came out, and I felt my short ribs were a little dry with not too much flavor. I did enjoy the celery root mashed potatoes though. My husband thought his burger was just average, but we did really like the chips that came with it, which were more like fry chips, thicker than regular chips, with more a texture like fries, but cut like chips.
The manager did come out during dinner to apologize for the long wait we had to endure, and said they had a gas leak problem and when we arrived, the kitchen was just starting to get back into it. If that’s the case, why did everyone else get fed first?! He offered us a free dessert. We choose the bread pudding, which was probably the best part of our meal. The bread was soft and warm, the cinnamon ice cream was good, and it had white chocolate shavings on top and caramel sauce around it.
I do appreciate their efforts at customer service, but that doesn’t make up for the lackluster food.

Inside Out Smores $ 9 (³⁄₅ NOMs)
Sometimes in is out, now this is one very beautiful dessert. Great bold colors this dish sure is pretty to look at. True to its name, it has a soft smore on top, chocolate brownie shell with a gooey melted gram cracker cake filling. Very sweet and chocolaty that is enjoyable with every spoonful, though its more of gram cracker then a smore. Served on a side with a very sweet and refreshing vanilla ice cream. Even with all the flavors and beautiful this is one extremely tiny smores dessert for $ 9. Could easily finish it in just few bites. Great flavor that just need to be match by bigger serving.
Braised Short Ribs $ 19 (4/​NOMs)
Nothing short about these braised short ribs. Large thick and super tender piece of pork. So tender that it just melts in your mouth. Flavor wise the meat could have used a bit more seasoning to match that great tenderness. Kind of liked that there was no bone to work around and you can just simply enjoy the meaty goodness. Served with a sizable side of mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts. The brussels sprouts was probably the second favorite thing after the short ribs.
Hanger Steak (³⁄₅ NOMs)
Don’t hang your butcher’s steak, hanger steak is also known as Butcher’s Steak that suppose to the most desired piece of meat. So expectation are very high here. Very soft and tender that you don’t even need a steak knife to cut it. Its a pretty big and filling piece of meat that could have used more flavor. It defiantly could have used some more seasoning to add that extra flavor kick to it. Just wasn’t as impressive as the tenderness. While they asked us how we want the steak prepared, medium, it was still served medium rare with a lot of pink, which is a standard preparation for hanger steak. Then why ask if it won’t be done the way we wanted? Mashed potatoes were top notch with a very soft texture and great flavor. Not truly sure what makes this dish new and updated cuisine, really just a steak.
Chicken Pot Pie $ 15 (³⁄₅ NOMs)
Order up a new deconstructed take on an old chicken pot pie. Brand new restaurant with a new take on some traditional dishes. Nice and thick pot pie filling with mushroom gravy and tender chicken. Comes with large pieces of mushrooms, sweet pies and carrots. But really the most important part is all that Gravy! What makes this really different from your grandma’s pot pie is how it is more of a deconstructed pot pie with sweet biscuit crust on top. This makes it so much so there is a lot less breading to it. Less guilt by eating all those carbs. Though that is about the only thing that made it as a new take. Kind of wish there was more new to it. One thing that got us a bit confused is where is the pie part? or is this really just chicken stew? Plus this dish has a vegetarian option for just $ 12!